On the opening stage of the Tour de Luxembourg this Wednesday, a reduced bunch fought for victory in the streets of the capital. After an explosive finish, Mathieu van der Poel claimed a clear win while Valentin Madouas took thirteenth place on the line. Five riders of the Groupama-FDJ finished within the winner’s time. Another punchy final is expected on Thursday in Schifflange.
Nearly one hundred and sixty kilometres made up the first stage of the Tour de Luxembourg, which consisted of a large loop to the north of the Grand Duchy’s capital. On their way, the riders also had to face four difficult climbs, which brought the day’s total elevation gain to more than 2,500 metres. In addition, the peloton had to lead an intense chase after it gave more than seven minutes of a lead to the day’s four breakaway riders, namely Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal Quick-Step), Vincent Van Hemelen (Flanders-Baloise), Mattia Bais (Polti-Kometa) and Alexandre Kess (Philippe Wagner/Bazin). “The race was hard because the breakaway put up a good fight,” explained Benoît. “A lot of teams had to use many riders, it was hard to catch them, and it was very fast all day on an up-and-down route. The initial goal was to keep Laurence for the final because the technical sprint could have suited him. Unfortunately, the race was too hard for him. He struggled for the first time eighty kilometres from the finish, and even more on the last climb ten kilometers from the finish, just like Mads Pedersen.”
“It’s quite interesting for the coming days”, Benoît Vaugrenard
On the final climb, the Stafelter hill (1.8 km at 9%), the breakaway was caught by the bunch, which was reduced to around fifty units at the summit. A small peloton therefore headed towards the slight uphill finish in Luxembourg. “It was a different finish from previous years, when Valentin won two years ago in particular”, explained Benoît. “It was punchier, more technical, and positioning was really important. From the moment Laurence was distanced, we changed our plans and went for Rudy. Unfortunately, he wasn’t very well positioned, and he was also a bit boxed in a few dozen metres from the finish line. He wasn’t able to sprint as he wanted to.” Valentin Madouas found a small opening but had to settle for thirteenth place on the line, far behind a dominant Mathieu van der Poel. “We would have liked to get a better result, of course, but David had good legs for his return to racing, the guys returning from Canada were not too bad either and we have five riders in the main peloton”, Benoît pointed out. “The raw result itself is not excellent, but it is rather interesting for what we want to do in the coming days”.
On Thursday, the peloton will head towards Schifflange, where a 900-metre climb averaging 7% will come four kilometres before the finish line.
